Day 55 (Thurs 31 Aug) - Amritsar / Dalhousie

Got up, packed our gear and headed off to the train station. We bought two cheap tickets to Pathankot and tried to find out from some locals which platform we should be on. We were quite early for our train so once we found out the platform we settled down to wait for our 9.35am train.

There followed a little confusion as on another platform a train leaving at 9.35am was also going to Pathankot. Was this our train? Were we on the wrong platform? By this stage we couldn't care less, and were not about to start charging about a station with our rucksacks. We decided to stay on our platform and wait for the next train and see where it went. Luckily this turned out to be Pathankot!

The train set off through Amritsar suburbs and traveled through small towns and stations and very green lush farmland. There obviously had been a lot of rain as the area was quite flooded. We finally arrived at Pathankot some three hours later and fought our way through the normal rickshaw scrum and headed to the bus station.

At the bus station Sarb left Jo with the bags whilst he bought some provisions for the next leg of the journey. We dodged the cows in the station and boarded the bus to Dalhousie which left at 1.20pm. The bus drove past what seemed to be barracks after barracks. At one point a convey of trucks went past carrying trucks and tanks. We soon left the busy roads and started to climb steep bendy roads - this is when Sarb helpfully decided to hum the tune to the Italian Job!!

The scenery was breathtaking, although the sheer drops, the narrow roads and the ancient bus made it a nerve racking journey. We continued in this vein for about four hours with a small chai stop. It started to rain which made the roads quite muddy in places, by this time we were gripping onto the seats in front for dear life. We finally swung into Dalhousie at about 5pm. By this time we were exhausted and it was still raining.

For once we were grateful for a hotel tout to take us to anywhere. He promised us hot water and beer - that was all we wanted!

We got a small cottage really overlooking the valley. Beautiful! The only problem was that the place seemed to be run by Herman Munster. Herman soon knocked on our door after we checked in and this was only the first indicator of the many pointless interruptions we were about to endure.

Sarb told him what we wanted for dinner and when we would go down to the restaurant. A half hour later Herman reappears and says that pretty much everything we wanted from the menu they didn't have. Chose again and sent Herman off into the void.

Went down to dinner where we were sat in what amounted to someone's front room. Had an ordinary dinner and not waiting to see what Herman had in store for dessert we scampered up the wet stone steps, past the inquisitive monkeys and to the safety of our room.

Watched a bit of telly and went to sleep listening to the rain pelting the roof!

Day 54 (Wed 30 Aug) - Amritsar / Attari Border

Had a well deserved lie in and then went for breakfast at Neelams. Spent most of the morning in an internet cafe. We'd heard on the news that there were severe floods in Rajasthan (where we were hoping to visit in September), so we tried to find some more information, without much luck.

Went to the Golden Temple Museum which contained some quite graphic paintings detailing the Sikhs violent history. We then walked around the Golden temple complex and took some more photos ( [1], [2] ).

We booked a jeep for 4pm to go to the Indian / Pakistan border for the closing ceremony.

Before we left for the border Sarb went inside the Golden Temple itself in the centre of the holy pool. To reach it you have to walk on the Guru's bridge. You are not allowed to take photos inside the actual temple but suffice to say that it is even more ornate than the outside. The reflection from the gold walls and ceilings quite literally stings your eyes. Inside priests sit and read from the Sikhs' holy book.

As Sarb was walking around the Golden Temple Jo was on the outskirts darting around trying to take some pictures!

At 4pm we set off for Attari in a shared jeep with three other tourists. One Brit and a French couple. It is about an hours comfortable drive to the border passing the magnificent Khalsa college on the way.

The border is constructed such that the main road linking Pakistan and India is separated by some ornate iron gates. On each countries side, a guardhouse and grandstands have been built on both sides of the road. By the time we arrived the stands were heaving with people, watched by the relaxed guards.

As we watched two Indian comperes revved up the crowd who responded enthusiastically with pro Indian chants and some frankly scary dancing. Quite a friendly, carnival but slightly hysterical atmosphere. When the noise abated slightly on the Indian side we could hear the Pakistani crowds on the other side chanting away. Basically a football match crowd without the footy!

We then watched as groups of women and men were encouraged to run to the iron gates bearing the Indian flag!

Then a slight hush as bugles were blown and then out of the guardhouse hurtled some soldiers. Marching so quickly that they were almost running they took their positions. What followed was quite an entertaining display of stamping about, bugling, shouting etc. Finally guards from both sides meet in the middle, the gate is slammed shut and the flags lowered. The crowds get onto the pitch dancing and singing. Quite a scene!

On the way out a guard asked Sarb for a photo.

Drove back to Amritsar where Sarb decided he needed a beer. We walked through the Old Town of Amritsar; a maze of small dimly lit alleys, sometimes opening up into small bright and busy bazaars. It was quite dangerous walking through this area as rickshaw and motorcycle drivers would still drive through at some speed on a road some 10 feet wide crowded with people.

Managed to get a beer and we got a rickshaw back.

Day 53 (Tues 29 Aug) - Amritsar / Ludhiana

We got off early and headed off to the bus station to catch the bus to Ludhiana to see Sarb's family.

The bus left at about 9.30am and we knew it took about 3 hours but we had no idea when to get off.

When we reached Ludhiana's flooded bus station we knew we had arrived. The next challange was to find somewhere where we could ring Sarb's cousin to let him know we had arrived and arrange getting to his Aunt's house. It was pretty hot and we were pestered by lots of hawkers which was tiring.

Finally we found a hotel and Sarb phoned his cousin who had been waiting at the bus station. In no time Sarb's cousin, Sukhbir, arrived on his moped. He offered to drive us to my Aunt's place Indian syle ie. all three of us on a moped. We declined and said we'd take an autorickshaw and follow him.

He arranged a cycle rickshaw which was a trifle tricky as many of them were not keen on taking us; it transpired later it was because of the distance.

We seemed to travel for ages and it was very hot - Jo was particularly suffering in the heat. At one point the rickshaw cyclist had to get off his bike and push the rickshaw up over a bridge - we felt so sorry for him.

After abour half an hour we arrived at Sarb's Aunts house. Sarb had never met his Aunt or cousins before so conversation was all about Sarb's dad and various other close relatives. ( [1], [2], [3], [4] )

We showed them some of our wedding photos and they likewise showed some of Sukhbirs. Quite cosy as we had some samosas and tea.

We then got into a real bun fight as to when we were to leave. We said that we must leave at about 4.30pm but they insisted we stay longer. By this time another cousin had appeared and he really wanted us to go to his house. Very hospitable but we really did need to get back to Amritsar.

We asked about getting an autorickshaw to the train station but Sarb's cousins were keen to take us on their bikes. We said that we would prefer to take a rickshaw but when we came out of the house it was obvious there were no rickshaws around so we reluctantly agreed to be taken to the main road on the bikes. Jo hopped on the back on Sukhbirs moped and Sarb hopped on the back off his other cousins motorbike. We looked a right pair - Sarb in his Indiana Jones hat and Jo in her smart Indian outfit. It was quite fun, but we were glad to get off and get in a rickshaw.

We didn't have to wait long for a train. We boarded the busy commuter train from Dehli to Amritsar. We finally arrived back out our hotel at nearly 10pm. We had a quick dinner and went to bed - we were shattered!

Day 52 (Mon 28 Aug) - Chandigarh / Amritsar

We had breakfast and took an auto rickshaw to the bus station for our first bus journey in India.

We easily located our bus and settled ourselves down for the five hour journey to Amritsar. While we waited for the bus to take off two Sikh gents near us cracked open a bottle of whisky. The time was 10am! Although we thought that it was a little early for a toot we soon realised they were simply trying to compose themselves for the journey ahead. If only we had known what the journey would be like we would have joined them.

It certainly wasn't the most relaxing five hours of our trip so far. The bus driver seemed to think his horn was his brake and that people should just move out of the way even if he was on the other side of the road and it was their right of way. The only thing he slowed down for was cows, and that was only because they didn't move out of the way.

Sarb felt a little worse than Jo as he thought it would be a good idea to take his Larium tablet that he missed to the night before. Hence he felt like chucking up for most of the journey.

We arrived at Amritsar feeling a bit battered and worst for wear. We then had the joy of fighting our way through the autorickshaw drivers as we got off the bus - all of them wanting to take us to a hotel. Fortunately Sarb had already booked our hotel the night before so we just asked to be taken there.

Our first impression of Amritsar was that it is extremely busy, noisy and dirty. We arrived at our hotel (MK Sook Guest House) and collapsed. We didn't rest long as we both realised how hungry we were so we headed off to find one of the restaurants recommended in the Lonely Planet. The first place we came to was Pizza Point which seemed a bit dirty but served tasty veggie pizzas.

After our late lunch we decided to explore - shortly afterwards we spotted our first rat! Since we weren't very impressed with Amritsar town we decided to go to the Golden Temple. Therefore Jo changed into her Indian garb and Sarb bought himself a fetching scarf to cover his head.

Our hotel is right round the corner from the temple complex so we walked round, gave our shoes into the temple shoe store, washed our hands and feet, covered our heads and wandered through the main entrance.

Straight after the dirt and grime of Amritsar the inside of the complex is as pristine as you can imagine. Somehow as well the bustling sounds of outside are completely blanked out ( [1] ).

The Golden Temple itself, standing in the pool, looks absolutely incredible. It looks smaller than we imagined but somehow much, much more ornate and grand.

Took loads of photos of the temple as we sat by the side of the holy pool. ( [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6] )

Later we went to Lawrance Street as we had read that it was a good area for restaurants and shopping. We were a bit disappointed - the shops were small and not very inviting and the road was muddy and badly lit. There was no path so we kept having to dodge the puddles and vehicles, who kindly beep to let you know they are just about to run you over!

We managed to buy Sarb's Aunt some sweets, who we were visiting the next day. We then hunted for a restaurant called Crystals which we had been recommended to us by a number of people. After a long walk we spotted it on the other side of a busy road. Jo managed to scurry across the road but Sarb was still stuck on the other side.

Fortunately an unlikely looking hero appeared. This knight of the road had no legs but this seemed to be of no consequence. Jo didn't know what was happening but suddenly she was watching in awe as the busy traffic parted. Our hero scuttled across and through the traffic and following in his lee was Sarb looking a trifle wild about the eyes. Sarb was very grateful.

By the time we got to Crystals we were desperate for a drink, however, typical they did not serve alcohol so we had to make do with non-alcoholic cocktails, cruelly called a mocktail on the menu.

We had a tasty meal and as we left the restaurant Sarb's new friend hailed us a rickshaw back to the hotel.

Day 51 (Sun 27 Aug) - Chandigarh

After the disappointing day the day before, we weren't holding out much hope for the rest of Chandigarh. With heavy misgivings we headed off in search of the rose garden.

When we finally found it we were pleasantly surprised. Although the roses were not in bloom it was a beautiful park and it even had a fountain. We settled ourselves under a tree and enjoyed watching the locals strolling around the park.

Later in the afternoon we thought we should do some more exploring so we headed off towards Nek Chand Fantasy Rock Garden. When we arrived we witnessed our first encounter with bribery. A school teacher (of all people)was trying to bribe the lady at the entrance with a handful of notes to get some twenty children in without buying tickets, but she refused, which made us laugh as he made a right fool of himself.

The Rock Garden was an amazing, magical place. You followed a maze of rock formations where you stumbled across human and animal figures made out of junk and stunning water features. It must have taken the artist years to create such a place. We certainly felt we were somewhere between "The Lost World" and "Tomb Raider" ( [1], [2], [3] ) . At the end of the garden there was an amusement area, where there were massive swings. Jo couldn't resist a ride, along with most of the other women in the garden.

Once we left the Rock Garden we were mobbed by rickshaw cyclists. We agreed a price and rode back to the hotel in the warm evening along wide tree lined avenues with large tidy houses.

Obviously there aren't a lot of white people in Chandigarh as some other cyclists nearly fell off their cycles looking at Jo.

We were quite tired by the time we got back to our hotel, so we simply ate in the hotel restaurant. We had a delicious vegetarian Thali, which is two vegetable dishes, dahl, chapatis, rice, salad and yoghurt.

Day 50 (Sat 26 Aug) - Dehli / Chandigarh

Today we would take our first Indian train journey and start being proper travellers!

Before we left the hotel, and said goodbye to our happy guard, we fuelled up with breakfast and then saddled up with our back packs and trekked the 15 minutes to the train station.

We easily found our platform but there was a bit of confusion with the time of the train. Our tickets stated the train to Chandigarh left at 10.20am but all the information at the station stated it left at 11am. It was a very busy platform so Sarb left Jo with the bags whilst he went to investigate. He couldn't find any information so we just hoped for the best.

A train arrived at about 10.30am, we were ready with our backpacks on so we went in search of our coach which was AS4. We found AS1, AS2 and AS3 but could not find AS4. We asked a person who looked like they worked on the train where AS4 was, he just pointed to the end of the train. We struggled down the platform through the hundreds of other passengers who were fighting to get on the train.

We still couldn't see our coach. Everyone we asked just pointed towards the end of the train. We ended up at the last coach of the train so decided just to get on before it left without us. Eventually we found out we were in the right coach so we were able to relax in our very pleasant air conditioned coach. The four hour journey flew by as we passed through squalid Delhi suburbs and then onto the fertile plains of the punjab.

Got to Chandigarh where we first had to get through the rickshaw scrum. Basically you are wrestling to get your bags off a train quickly as you have no idea when it is likely to push off again, there are people milling about the platform and then you've got twenty rickshaw wallahs all asking you if you want a rickshaw. Quite stressful. Sarb has discovered the secret of dealing with the rickshaw men ie. shout very loudly and tell them to get lost for 5 minutes.

Got a rickshaw into town, but as it had recently rained heavily some of the roads had flooded so it took a little longer (and cost more) to get to our hotel.

Chandigarh seems quite an orderly town with roundabouts and a grid system of roads. Checked into our comfortable hotel and as we were hungry walked into the town centre.

Chandigarh town centre can best be summed up as looking like Milton Keynes ( [1], [2] ) will in 50 years time. There is an awful lot of concrete. Initially quite confusing to navigate across Chandigarh with the map we had as the road intersections are surprisingly far apart.

Anyway we tried to find some resteraunts listed in the Lonely Planet with no success either shut or were only serving booze. Found a fast food outlet, Millions 2, where Sarb had a very dodgy chicken burger and Jo a vegetable hot dog.

Found an internet cafe where we checked what the Pinjore Gardens were all about. These gardens are about 20km away and meant to be pretty fantastic. However the web photos that we saw clearly indicated that the gardens COULD look fantastic but were way short of it at present.

Got back to the hotel and had a bit of kip. For dinner we headed back to the town centre where we found that one of the closed restaurants, Mehfil, had opened. Had a fab meal .

Got a cycle rickshaw back to the hotel. Very peaceful watching the scenery go by without the associated noise of an internal combustion engine and only the occasional huff and puff of the thin rickshaw wallah as he laboured to get two rather full tourists up a slight hill.

Sarb watched a bit of footy before turning in.

Day 49 (Fri 25 Aug) - Delhi

Got up and completed the last bit of blogging from the previous night.

Main plan for today is to get our mobile phone sorted out. With this in mind we belted off to Airtel in Connaught Place with our passports. When we got there however the woman told us that we also needed two passport size photos. Sarb got a little heated with her pointing out that the buffoon we'd met the previous day made no mention of this fact. Anyway we went and got some mugshots of Sarb and returned to the shop where we met a third representative of the great Airtel organisation. After speaking with this guy for about 15 minutes we deciphered that the coverage would not be very good, that we would have to pay to register with other mobile operators when we crossed state lines and that the whole thing was a lost cause. So the upshot of three seperate visits to Airtel was no SIM card.

Walked to Kwality Inn where we had quite an expensive lunch. Waddled out from here and in the searing heat walked to one of the main Sikh temples in Delhi.

Quite an impressive building although Sarb was not too sure as to how to get into the complex. Decided the safest course of action would be to take a few piccies from outside.

Walked near to the Presidential Palace and India Gate. Very impressive! The layout is very similar to Buck House, the Mall and Admiralty Arch.

By now it was so hot that we would have dived under a cow for some shade. Whilst waiting for inspiration Jo tried a novel approach using a bottle of sun screen of keeping some beggars at bay. Inspiration flared and we saw on our map that there was a Modern Art Gallery over a busy road from us. Glossing over the fact that the gallery was air conditioned we felt that we were missing a little culture and so attempted to cross the road.

Some 15 minutes later we were still trying to cross the road. We had to walk up the road a little before we flagged down an autorickshaw driver and explained that we basically needed to get onto the other side of the road.

Got to the gallery and handed over a wad of cash in order to have our dose of culture. We'd like to say something great about the main exhibitor but can't. We must be missing something but taking a load of sticks, painting them and then throwing them into a room just doesn't do it for us. Luckily the air conditioning did. Whilst we were walking around looking rather stunned at the 'art' around us we played a little game of 'What do you reckon the artist called this work?'. It was Sarb's turn and in front of him was a 1 metre square canvas painted a vivid yellow. Feeling pretty arty he said 'A field of yellow sunflowers seen from a great height above'. It was actually called 'Yellow Picture'.

Left the gallery and feeling a little frazzled got an autorickshaw to a cocktail place called DV8 in Connaught Place. Very cool, relaxed place where we quaffed a few potent cocktails.

Tried to get back to the hotel but the traffic was too bad so we consulted our trusty book and found another bar nearby. Had a few drinks (even tried Indian wine) and then got an autorickshaw back to base.

Sarb phoned his relatives in Ludhiana to let them know that we would be trying to meet up with them next week and arranged the accommodation in Chandigarh.

Took in the view from the top of our hotel and retired for the night.

Day 48 (Thu 24 Aug) - Delhi

Got up fairly late and headed off to the Hotel Shelton in the Main Bazaar for a spanish breakfast!

On the way back to our hotel we popped into the main train station and bought a copy of 'Trains at a Glance'. This is the condensed railway timetable for the Indian Railways.

Got back to our hotel where we faffed around for a bit and then grabbed our first autorickshaw ride to Connaught Place. Let us just say that it was a hair raising experience! Sarb reckons that if any air forces want fighter pilots then they need look no further than the streets of Delhi for raw material. Anyone that can survive longer than two weeks weaving amongst cycle rickshaws, autorickshaws, trucks, cars, motorbikes and a couple of cows all travelling in various directions and speeds, generally averting disaster in millimetres is clearly made of the 'right stuff'.

We thought we'd take a picture of our driver and when Sarb asked him he was most pleased to oblige. He spent a few moments composing himself and then offered his best profile.

Found an Airtel outlet (a mobile phone operator) and asked them what we would need to get a SIM card; a passport is all that we need they explained.

Next stop was another autorickshaw to Kahor Bhag. This is basically Southall in West London ie. loads of Indian clothes shops and bad drivers. Jo wanted to buy a few local outfits so we went to about a million shops!!! Just as Sarb was about to lose the will to draw another breath Jo purchased her last outfit and we got another autorickshaw back to the hotel.

Back at our hotel Sarb made a beeline for the rooftop so that he could have a few beers whilst Jo got changed into one of her new outfits. Clearly suffering from heat fatigue Sarb decided to have a freebie Hennah pattern made on the back of his hand.

Headed down to the restaraunt in the hotel for dinner. At this point Sarb's resolve broke. We had both agreed that in India we should avoid all meat. However Sarb felt that he was beginning to waste away and that if he didn't get any meat then he was likely to attack one of the cows that wandered around the streets. To prevent the inevitable newspaper headlines (British tourist arrested for mauling a cow etc. etc.) Sarb had some mutton whilst Jo stolidly stuck to her vegetables.

After dinner, done some more blogging and asked the hotel to book our train tickets to Chandigarh as were being very lazy.

Day 47 (Wed 23 Aug) - Delhi

We didn't sleep too well - the air conditioning was loud and the bedding was itchy. We popped down to the hotel restaurant for a semi-Indian breakfast (veggie cutlets, toast and masala tea).

We spent most of the day (over six hours) uploading the photos of Kenya onto the blog. We didn't even stop for lunch. It was quite a task, by the end of the day we were knackered but pleased we had put most of the photos up.

We headed up to the roof top restaurant for an early evening snack of veggie cutlets and veggie pakoras. After our snack we went to explore the neighbourhood. It was very busy dodging the rickshaws, people, dogs, cars, buses and cows.

Our hotel is very near New Delhi train station. The Main Bazaar is very busy with shops and street sellers. We felt surprisingly safe. People just seemed to stare at Jo (just in case you are wondering - that's because she's white) but apart from that we had no hassle, not even from beggars or sellers. There are lots of interesting smells too - one minute you will think mmmmm.... that smelt nice and spicey, the next minute urgh .... I feel sick.

We headed back to our hotel. Since we were still stuffed from our earlier snack, headed straight to bed.

Day 46 (Tue 22 Aug) - Dubai / Delhi

We arrived at Dubai airport at just after 1am. Our flight wasn't due to leave until 4.35am so we weren't surprised that a check in desk had not been allocated. We simply went for a drink.

We kept scanning the computer screens for information about our check in but there was none. We finally realised that there was a problem with the computers and the check-in system. We went through security in search of our check-in desk. There were people everywhere but no one was being checked in.

We waited for another hour, by this time it was 3am and we were getting concerned that we still hadn't checked in. Suddenly all the computers started working and everyone was able to check in. We finally checked in at 3.45am so we then had to quickly walk to our gate which was already boarding.

Fortunately the flight to Delhi was only 3 hours since Emirates was surprisingly poor - no movies, poor food and cramped seats.

When we arrived in Delhi Airport we had a long wait to get through passport control. By the time we got through our bags had been taken off the conveyor belt and were dumped on the floor.

We walked into the arrivals hall and were greeted by a driver from our hotel. The driver explained that he didn't have air conditioning but we were just pleased to be on the way to the hotel as it was 10.30am and we were knackered.

The drive from the Airport to the hotel was fun - we thought Kenyan drivers were mad but Indian drivers are in a different league. There are rickshaws (auto and cycle), bus, cars and pedestrains everywhere. When we got nearer Delhi there were even cows in the road. We finally arrived at the Ajanta Hotel which is located in Pahar Ganj district on a busy small road.

We were shown to our room and went straight to bed. We woke up a few hours later and went up to the restaurant on the roof. Our first meal in India was a veggie pizza - not very Indian but we were really hungry.

Day 45 (Mon 21 Aug) - Dubai

We decided today would be our sight seeing day. After breakfast we bought tickets for the Big Bus Company tour of Dubai. Just like the London version - it is a double decker bus which you hop on and off and you have to complete a mortgage application to buy the tickets.

Luckily we jumped on the city tour bus just outside our hotel. The bus headed off into the city, travelling under the tunnel to the other side of the creek past the Gold Souk and Commercial district. There was quite a few impressive looking office blocks and mosques.

We got off the bus at Deira City Centre so we could join the beach tour bus. We had to wait a bit so we ventured into the massive shopping centre. We didn't buy anything, although Jo was tempted - but as always Sarb reminded her she would have to carry what she bought!

We boarded the beach tour bus which took us back over the creek and towards the seaside.

We were amazed by the amount of construction currently going on in Dubai ( [1], [2], [3] ). Our tour guide explained that there are currently over 5,000 office / apartment buildings
under construction. Everywhere you look there seem to be massive sky scrapers being built.

Along the beach there must have been at least 15 five star hotels and a good number of stylish palaces. Off the coast we could see an island in the distance. Our guide explained that they were building the "World Islands" just four km off the coast. The World Islands are a collection of man-made islands shaped into the continents of the world. It will consist of 300 small private artificial islands. Each island will range from 23.2 to 83.6 thousand square meters in size and is due to be completed in 2008. Whatever next! If you're interested have a look at http://www.theworld.ae/

We continued along the coast and came to Dubai's famous seven star hotel, Burj al Arab. Fortunately for Sarb, you have to make a reservation 24 hours in advance so we weren't able to pop in for a glass or two of champers. It did look pretty impressive.

We headed back towards the city, on the way we saw the construction of what will be the world's tallest building - Dubai is definitely trying to do everything bigger and better than everyone else.

On the way back we stopped off at Dubai's largest shopping centre which even boasts an indoor ski slope.

By the time we returned to our hotel we were very hot and tired. We chilled for a bit and packed up our rucksacks as we were leaving in the middle of the night.

Since we were going to have over three months of Indian food we decided to have an "English" in the Sherlock Holmes pub in our hotel. Sarb had fish'n'chips and Jo had Cottage Pie with chips - what a treat!

We checked out of our hotel at 12.30am and took a taxi to the airport.

Day 44 (Sun 20 Aug) - Dubai

After a fabulous nights sleep and a massive buffet breakfast we decided to explore the local area. We only managed to walk about ten steps before we had to dive into a shop to cool down. It was over 43 degrees and we were cooking.

We found an internet cafe near by, done some blogging, and cooled down for a bit before heading back to the hotel for a rest.

Later in the afternoon we attempted to brave the climates in search of another internet cafe where we could upload our photos onto the blog. After visiting two places without success, we found out that the United Arab Emirates has banned our internet uploading site (Flickr) for cultural, religious and moral reasons.

Although it was very humid and we were sweating buckets we decided to walk ( [1], [2] ) around the city.

First we came across a street which is called Computer Street - it looks like Tottenham Court Road - crammed with computer and technical shops.

By the harbour we stumbled across a massive french supermarket - Carrefour. It looked really out of place.

We continued along the creek ( [1], [2] ) and arrived in the textile area, which was very bright and colourful. We then seemed to walk into the jewellery area for there were loads of flash jewellery shops (bling, bling). We were getting hungry so decided to go for an Indian - well to be honest there wasn't anything but Indian restaurants. We had a very tasty meal and sweated back to the cool hotel.

Day 43 (Sat 19 Aug) - Nairobi / Dubai

One thing we must remember is not to go to bed late the night before an early flight!

We surprisingly managed to leave for the the airport just after 8.30am. It didn't take us long as the roads were relatively quite. We had our last encounter of Kenyan drivers - we still haven't worked out how they manage to get away without crashing into each other all the time.

We said goodbye to Sagini and went to the check in desk. There was a really long queue. When we finally got to the deak and handed over our tickets. The Passenger Experience Facilitation Officer (woman at check in) calmly said that flight was full but she could get us on the evening flight. The long and short of it was that the flight had been over booked and there was no way we could have got on the flight as people who were on transit from other countries had booked in the night before. There was no way we were going to miss that flight, Jo had booked a four star hotel in Dubai and if we got the later flight we wouldn't arrive until 5am the next day. The supervisor was called and Jo told him in no uncertain terms how he could resolve the situation. We had an anxious wait, the flight was due to leave at 12.30pm and at 11.25am they told us we could board the plane.

We had to dash through security and to the boarding gate, which was another fiasco. Due to the security alerts in London they confiscated Jo's one and only luxury, her hand cream, but let Sarb go through with matches! Apparantly hand cream is lethal!

We boarded the plane and had a pleasant five hour flight to Dubai. Dubai has a state of the art airport - it is stunning. Despite this we had an anxious wait for our luggage which finally appeared. When we left the airport building in search of a taxi the heat hit us. It was 7.30pm and it felt like we'd just walked into a steam room.

We quickly jumped into an air conditioned taxi and headed off towards our hotel (Ariabian Courtyard hotel). When we arrived we were told that they didn't have any standard non smoking rooms so they had upgraded us to an executive room. Did we say it was four star!!

The hotel has an English pub called the Sherlock Holmes. We thought we ought to check it out so we popped down and Sarb had a pint of Heineken, Jo had a white wine and we shared a massive plate of ploughmans.

Before bed Jo had a bath and then lounged around in one of the white towelling dressing gowns, whilst Sarb caught up with the cricket scores.

You can't really say we are roughin' it around the world!

Day 42 (Fri 18 Aug) - Nairobi

Sagini drove us into the city to do some jobs in preparation for India!

Whilst attempting to buy a lock Sarb and Sagini were privileged to be part of a Little Britain 'Computer Says No' sketch. When we asked the shop keeper if he had a lock, he looked confused and then shouted 'Agri! Agri, do we have a lock?'. Agri, the computer, was a harassed looking man who without breaking stride in the midst of helping another customer shouted back 'NO!!'. Shopkeeper looks a trifle stunned. Conflicting emotions chased across his face. Had he just been dissed by his assistant? Had his assistant just not heard him correctly?? 'AGRI! AGRI, do we have a lock?' shouts the shop keeper again. Agri, walking in the other direction this time, shouts back 'I said NO!!!!!'. Shop keeper looks at us a bit shamefacedly, shakes his head and shuffles off to another counter. As we left, the harassed Agri was simultaneously handling some three requests from a gaggle of people!

Headed back to Westlands and had a late lunch at Pizza garden. Popped back to the flat to pick the camera up and as Sarb was obviously missing Forest Gate we drove to Parklands, which is the Indian part of Nairobi. Found a bar which was dominated by Sikhs drinking whisky. Sarb and Sagini tried, unsuccessfully, to impress the locals by playing pool, whilst Jo sat happily drinking Redds.

Drove around a bit to find another bar, ended up at Havana's. Had a few beers and then headed off to the other side of town in search of the Black Cotton Club. Sagini wasn't quite sure where it was so asked some guys in a Securicur van. Instead of giving us directions they suggested they show us the way. Their van wouldn't start but before we knew it four blokes jumped out of the back and started pushing it down the road.

We soon arrived at a very empty Black Cotton Club - well it was only 11pm! The club was outside so you could look up at the stars. It soon started filling up and we lost track of time. Didn't get back to the flat until after 3pm!

Day 41 (Thu 17 Aug) - Nairobi

Finally woke up with rather sore heads. Jo got up and chatted to Rose but Sarb just couldn't face the morning.

At lunch time we headed off to the internet cafe. Luckily Susanne from the Flight Centre in London had emailed to let us know that the flight to Dubai had been slightly delayed. Kenya Airways hadn't mentioned that the day before - not a good sign.

We both felt pretty dodgy - particularly Sarb, so we headed back to the flat and Sarb had a snooze. Jo wrote up her journal and expanded her knowledge of kenyan TV.

In the evening we went out to dinner for Sagini's "first" Indian since leaving London. The restaurant was called Haandi (apparantly there is one in London, which we will definitely try when we get home). The meal was fabulous, every dish was delicious and we were well and truly stuffed by the end of it.

Day 40 (Wed 16 Aug) - Nairobi

We got up and got ready for our "cultural day". Sagini had offered to take us around the sites of Nairobi.

Didn't get off to a great start, we headed to Nairobi's national museum but it was closed until next year for refurbishment. Not detered we found an East African Art and Culture exhibition. It was very interesting and informative.

Sagini had some jobs to do in town so we popped to his internet cafe and burnt our photos onto CD's. Jo confirmed the flight to Dubai with Kenya airways which was located upstairs.

To end off our cultural day we decided to see a play but there wasn't much on so we headed back to the flat for dinner.

Sagini suggested that he show us the Nairobi by night. First we headed to Nairobi's one and only English pub - a bit of a joke! It is located in the basement of the Hilton hotel, pretty lifeless with racing pictures dotted around. They didn't even serve English beer or champagne for Jo!

We then headed off to an Irish bar - there was a theme to the evening!! The bar was holding a Cilla style blind date which was hilarious. The female participates and audiences were getting extremely excited. Sarb and Sagini were keen to play a bit of pool so we left the dating and went on to the Crooked Cue. Sarb played a few drunken games - he wasn't too bad - won one game out of three!

As if we hadn't had enough "culture" that night we then went to the Carnivore which is the restaurant we had been to on Saturday but it has a lively night club next door. Apparently it was Rock Night - not much rock but we had a boogie. Meet up with some of Sagini's friends and finally got back to the flat at 4.15am

Day 39 (Tue 15 Aug) - Nairobi

After breakfast we head off to the cheap internet cafe.

Spent over four hours updating the blog and sending emails. Connection quite good but a bit slow. By the end of this we were starving so headed to the shopping centre and braved a 'Wimpy'.

We relaxed for the rest of the day in flat. When Sagini gets home he suggests that we go to a local bar for a Jazz evening. Sarb and Sagini enjoy a musical evening, along with a few beers, whilst Jo enjoys a fine example of dubbed mexican soap operas.

Rose made some delicious meatballs for dinner. We could get used to having a house maid!!

Day 38 (Mon, 14 Aug) - Nairobi

We got up and headed over to the Sarit centre; Sags was out and about already.

Wandered around the Sarit centre and also the surrounding plazas. It was in one of these plazas that we found the Haandi resteraunt that Sagini had mentioned the previous night as a good place to eat. It certainly looked and smelled good!!

Found a very cheap internet cafe in one of the outlying plazas that we thought we'd come back to.

Got back to the flat, met Sags as he had popped in for a while, and settled down to watch Leon on the DVD and drink some wine.

A very relaxing evening.

Day 37 (Sun, 13 Aug) - Nairobi

Got up rather late.

We all spent the late morning chatting on Sag's balcony.

Had lunch that Rose had prepared.

Late afternoon we headed over to the Sarit centre. This is a shopping mall not 10 minutes walk from Sags' flat.

Sagini was surprised that we wanted to walk. Anyway, the three of us traipsed off and we soon discovered why everyone drives.

The road we had to cross was six lanes; thankfully the designers had put in a large central reservation. We raced across the first 3 lanes, dodging the matatus, and took a breather at the middle. Next step was to wait (a long time) for a safe break before belting over the remaining 3 lanes. You felt like high fiving each other because you were so happy you made it.

Wandered into the Sarit centre and bought some food and wine. Headed back over the chicken run and spent the rest of the night chilling and drinking vino.

During the course of this conversation Sagini lamented at the fact that none of his friends liked going out for Indian food. Since this formed a part of his staple diet in London we felt sorry for him. We then started to warm up the dinner that Rose had prepared. This meal consisted of chupatis, lamb cooked in a rogan josh style, cabbage side dish and a dish that Sags exclaimed "not sure what you call this in London". We told him we call it dhal.

So basically Sags has been eating Indian food (to be fair though it's not quite as spicy) since he's been in Kenya! It transpires that alot of Indian food/Kenyan food has fused.

Day 36 (Sat, 12 Aug) - Nairobi

Got up at 11.30am; no sign of Sagini anywhere.

His housemaid, Rose, made us breakfast and we just pottered round the flat until Sags got up at 3pm. He explained that his quick drink the night before turned into a bit of a session; he did not get back until 6am.

After he'd got himself in some sort of shape we drove to the Village Market. This is a posh shopping mall. We looked round the shops and popped into a modern art gallery.

We settled into an open air bar where Sags and Sarb ordered a 3 litres of Tusker in a self service dispenser. Great idea, they bring all the beer to your table and it keeps cool in this huge dispenser as you top yourself up. Jo quaffed a few glasses of wine.

We then drove onto Casablanca. This is a bar/compound that has been converted from a large urban country house. It's fantastically decorated; candle lights in alcoves within the bar and the gardens and divans set some 3 feet from the floor. Once you get on these you can just lie back around the small table in the middle that holds your drinks. Genius! To add to the Moroccan feel you can ask for a hookah to be brought over.

Had a really cool evening soaking up the atmosphere watching Nairobi's beautiful young things, of all races, play. Had a brilliant time!

When we left the guard unfortunately held the gates for our car to pass through a little too long. A tidal wave of people raced through the gates; the queues to get in must have been enormous.

No idea what time we got home. Must have been after midnight though.

Day 35 (Fri, 11 Aug) - Lamu/Nairobi

Had breakfast and packed our gear.

Jo checked out whilst Sarb waited on the forecourt for her. And waited. The boat that would take us to the airport arrived and our main bags were loaded but still no Jo.

Eventually Sarb went into the office to see Jo seated before two stern looking men all of whom were staring at a fax machine. To cut a long story short, the money from the tour operator had not arrived at the hotel. So they were asking us to pay for the whole lot! Luckily Jo asked them to phone Ruth who instructed us not to pay a shilling as it had all been accounted for. So we had a mexican standoff. The hotel would not let us leave unless we paid, the operator said that we should not pay a penny as she already had done so. With the plane waiting, common sense prevailed and the hotel owner said that we should make our flight and they would sort it out later.

A porter led us to the boat in a quick march and we were soon bouncing along towards the airport.

Security at Lamu consists of the staff manually opening and checking the bags. No big issue but just time consuming and tiring as it is so hot.

The departure lounge was a tin hut which offered welcome shade.

Got the flight that took us first to Malindi, a 21minute wait in the airport, before getting back on the plane and flying to Nairobi.

During the flight we could clearly see the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Got to Nairobi and had a welcome surprise when Joshua met us at the airport at about 4.30pm.

Set off in heavy traffic towards the city centre when Joshua got a call from Ruth. We were to have dinner at the Carnivore resteraunt at 6.30pm but for some reason the booking had to be changed to 9.30pm!

This caused a bit of a logistical problem. Firstly, we'd told Sagini, Sarb's friend that we would be staying with that we'd be with him at about 10pm and secondly we had 5 hours to kill!

We made a team decision and killed some time by going to the supermarket where we bought books and toiletries. Phoned Sagini about the change of plan and agreed with him that we would whizz round and drop our bags off before going out to eat.

Went into the city centre and had a few Redds in Kengeles ( a chain of bars easily recognisable as they have been half converted from petrol stations. The other half is still a petrol station).

Went to Sags who lives in Westlands to drop off the bags. Seems weird that we've finally met up!

We all, except Sags, headed off to the Carnivore but were way early so stopped off for more Redds at another Kengeles.

Got to the carnivore where we met Ruth, her husband, her brother and his wife. We were both rather shocked and disappointed that Joshua was not to be joining us for dinner.

Had the Carnivore experience ie. loads of meat and booze.

After dinner Joshua dropped us off in Westlands where we were to meet Sags. It was really sad to say goodbye to Joshua as we'd spent so much time with him. Sags appeared and we headed off to a bar (Havanas) where we met a few of his friends.

This is also the first time that Sarb was introduced to the concept of asking for warm beer. In Kenya, you have two options warm or cold. For some reason Sags drinks warm so Sarb did likewise.

We all moved onto another bar with Sags and his friend Ayub. Had a few more beers before we felt a little tired.

Sags dropped us at his flat and then said that he would be popping out for a few more beers. We finally went to bed at 2.45am; which is quite impressive as we are normally asleep by 10pm.

Day 34 (Thu, 10 Aug) - Lamu

For some reason Sarb got absolutely ravaged by mozzies during the night. Jo remained unscathed.

Today we explored Lamu a little further ( [1], [2]).

We tried to get a look round the fort but unfortunately it had closed (for the day, the week; we never found out).

Went to see our book man, Mwangi where Sarb gave him back the book he'd read and Jo got some more necklaces.

Went round Lamu market and looked in on the numerous carpentry workshops.

Sarb's hair was beginning to look worse than usual so we found a barbers. Jo waited outside and drew quite a bit of attention. The sight of a white woman sitting outside a men's barbers was clearly far too much for some.

Sarb looked pretty nervous as the barber offered to give him a shave with a cut throat razor. After extracting promises that the barber would only tidy the Goatee and not shave it off (despite Jo's instructions) he began.

Sarb looked pretty uncomfortable as the shop was small, people were jostling around, the barber was chatting to everyone and he had a very sharp implement waving round his ears.

Sarb went back for a shower and after we set off for a bit more of the town. We met a local artist who was keen to take us to his studio. As everyone is so friendly and not pushy in the slightest we agreed and ambled off afer him. He took us through a maze of streets, pausing whilst we took some photos of an interesting door or scene to his first floor cramped studio.

Admired his work, which was quite good and parted buying three handmade postcards, each showing a particular scene of Lamu. We shall frame these when we get home.

On the way back to the harbour we passed a small hotel with a huge tree growing in the courtyard. We went in and the owner said that there was a rooftop restaurant. We headed up the stairs and emerged at the top of building that had a commanding view of the harbour and old town.

Jo was a bit peckish so had some fresh fish fingers.

Pottered back to the hotel and sat on the verandah drinking wine and beer. Beautiful looking out at the dark harbour hearing the calls to the faithful from the imams wafting on the very slight warm breeze.

Sarb finally managed to get some really good photos of the moon hanging over the harbour!!!!

Because we had a light lunch we finally managed to tackle all 5 courses at dinner. Delicious.

Day 33 (Wed, 9 Aug) - Lamu

Got up and got our stuff ready for our dhow ride.

Despite Jo trying to not get burnt her legs are a very fine shade of pink. Even though she covered up with her sarong the day before, Sarb reckons that the sun burnt 'through' it.

Met Valderama who introduced us to the dhows captain, Baker.

We set off from our hotel and sailed off towards Manda. Water was a little choppy (Jo was holding on for dear life) but as soon as we headed into the sheltered area of water between two mangrove forests it calmed down.

We stopped at a likely stop and Baker and V. handed out some reels of line with hooks. They baited them with prawns and we cast off. Very soon Baker and V both started to catch fish; hauling them up and plopping them into a bucket of water. Jo got a couple of bites; although the fish seemed to be eating her bait and then wandering off unharmed. Sarb did not get a single bite and caught nothing more than a bit of sunburn.

Whilst fishing the skies darkened and a sheet of rain fell across the water. Amazing to see the big splashes surrounding us! After 5 minutes of the heavy shower, the sun broke through and that was that. We dried in minutes.

With our haul of fish, we then set sail for Manda beach. Whilst Valderama and Baker prepared the fish we headed off, along the white sands towards a small bar.

Had a beer and watched the ocean waves course into the shallow Lamu waters.

We walked back along the beach, paddling in the hot water. By the time we got back dinner was ready. The boys had grilled the fish, made a vegetable curry and rice and we ate hugely.

Jo relaxed in the shade whilst Sarb played in the water. Once the tide started to come in the water became noticeably cooler. This is when Sarb stopped playing.

Got the dhow back to Lamu.

A really beautiful day. It is hard to believe we will ever be in a place so close to paradise than this.

As we sat on our verandah Sarb managed to get, after many unsuccessful attempts, some photos of the moon reflected in the calm harbour waters.

Day 32 (Tue, 8 Aug ) - Lamu

Got up for breakfast and headed for Shella beach.

Shella is a small fishing village some 3 km distance from Lamu.

We walked in the heat along the coast through Shella village, that included a large traditional boat makers yard. Further on from the village is the beach. 14kms of it!

Not very many people on the beach and not many places to find shade. Luckily Jo found some trees some distance from the water where we set up camp. Sat and relaxed, watching the white breakers coming in from the very blue Indian Ocean.

We paddled in the sea and were very surprised as to how strong the waves were. The undertow was pretty fierce too!

As we sat, we noticed further along the beach a herd of camels walking towards us. It was like some sort of vision! Nobody around, just us two, the huge ocean infront of us, miles of sands and then suddenly a gaggle of camels appear!

As were getting hungry and the tide was coming in we decided to potter back for lunch. The tide comes in very quickly and as such we were forced to walk much closer to land than we originally did.

In Shella we found a local cafe where we had some samosas and chips. We also found a cat that looks like a slimmed down version of Jo's sisters.

After lunch the path we intended to take had all but disappeared under the incoming water. Politely declining the offer from some locals of using their donkeys we decided to walk the longer route behind the village and onto Lamu.

There was a steady trickle of locals and tourists walking along the fine sandy path towards Lamu. We walked behind some small hotels and houses and were very thankful of the shade offered by the trees that grew alongside the path. Further inland, not too far from the path, we could see great sandy dunes.

Got back, showered and had a few drinks on the forecourt. The hotel seemed busier today. Valderama, a local whom we briefly met previously, pitched up and we agreed that the next day we would go fishing with him on his dhow.

Had another lovely dinner and again we stuggled to do it justice.

Day 31 (Mon 7 Aug) - Lamu

After a great nights sleep had breakfast and then headed off to explore Lamu. We tried to find the tourist office but were directed to the museum where all we were able to buy was a small map of Lamu. Whilst we were there we visited the Lamu museum.

An impressive building which used to be our man in Lamu's pad.

Walked around the narrow, crowded streets in the Old Town. Crowded not only because of the human traffic but because of the numerous donkeys that are used to transport all manner of things. Note that Lamu has only 1 car on the island, the District Commissioner.

We walked past a small stall where a man, Mwangi, had laid out necklaces and a modest selection of second hand books. Sarb exchanged the book he had been reading, Monsoon, for another book by Wilbur Smith. Mwangi was particularly impressed when Sarb showed him some passages from the book that mentioned Lamu. As part of the bargain, which included 100 shillings, Jo managed to get herself a necklace too.

Went for lunch at Hapa Hapa. Sarb had a prawn curry and Jo a sea food spaghetti. Excellent food; loads of it and very, very tasty for less than a fiver!

Headed back to our hotel and sat on the first floor verandah overlooking the harbour into the evening.

Jo headed off to our room for a shower whilst Sarb sat drinking beer. The power then failed. Luckily Sarb had his torch with him so went to rescue Jo, who was in some state of undress and confusion in the room in the pitch dark.

We had dinner in the near empty restaurant. Our only companions being a European couple some tables away.

Dinner was a feast. 5 courses, starting with sea food, soup, pasta, main and then dessert and coffee. We waddled away from the table some time later.

Whilst Jo went to bed Sarb took a sniff of the sea air and met the nightwatchman Benson. Benson is a Masai and was dressed in traditional garb, quite different from the local population. Anyway a thoroughly nice chap.

Day 30 (Sun, 6 Aug) - Mombasa and Lamu

Woke up to a torrential downpour!

Had an early breakfast and met our taxi driver Nicholas (on time).

Set off for Malindi airport. As we drove the damp weather slowly brightened.

Arrived at Malindi airport at 10am; quite early for a flight leaving at 12:40pm.

We sat in the small terminal building, sweating profusely, people watching. Sometimes we are embarrassed to be British!

Got on a small, twin engined plane (Saab 9540, for those of you that are interested) and zipped over to Lamu in a little over 35 minutes.

The airport at Lamu seemed very laid back. Baggage reclaim was simply a big concrete block, on which our bags where dumped having been transported from the plane by a hand cart.

We were a little unsure of how we were to get to our hotel from the airport but luckily we spotted a chap carrying a sign for our hotel, the New Palace Hotel.

We met David, from the hotel, who led us to our little boat that would take us to the hotel. We traveled for 20 mins across the still water to our hotel.

The hotel is right on the waterfront, it reminds us of the hotel we stayed in in Venice. It looks very old, has exposed beams and a distinct Arabian feel. The hotel forecourt is dominated by low divans covered in large comfortable cushions.

Our room is small but very comfortable. Most of the space is taken up by the large 4 poster bed.

We had a couple of drinks and a little nap.

After our power nap we went for a little walk along the busy harbour front. Seems an incredibly peaceful, laid back and friendly place.

Day 29 (Sat, 5 Aug) - Mombasa

Had a very strange wake up call this morning!

Jo answered the ringing phone to be told by an irate receptionist that our cab driver was waiting for us and that we were late. Jo tried to explain that we were leaving the next day to no avail.

Sarb decided he would go to reception to sort it out. As soon as he got there the receptionist immediatly apologised and said that we were in fact going tommorrow. In an effort to reclaim sort aspect of authority she then told him that we MUST be ready for 8am the following morning. We get it! If you have a taxi booked for 8am you must have a trial run the day before to make sure that you will actually make the cab. Brilliant idea!

We headed to the quiet pool which he have renamed Jo and Sarb's pool. Spent the day swimming around, reading and being lazy.

For lunch we headed off to the beach bar for a fab burger and samosas. Tried to work off lunch by walking along the length of the beach. Busy today on account of the weekend no doubt.

Got back to the room and packed our gear in preparation for the next day's early start.

Sarb loved dinner. They had Keema Matter (mince with peas), Aloo Gobi and chupattis. Lovely!

Went to the beach bar for a few drinks. It is a nice bar spoilt somewhat by the loud music blaring from speakers the size of wardrobes. We watched the numerous crabs wandering over the beach (all wearing ear protectors). However luck was on our side. The power cut out so we sat watching and listening to the ocean in the darkness. The beach almost glowed with a silvery light as the moon was high in the sky.

Day 28 (Fri, 4 Aug) - Mombasa

Sprang out of bed for breakfast and headed straight for the beach.

Whilst Sarb lazed around Jo attempted to phone her mum and sister from the public phone box. Not very successful so they will try and call the hotel later.

We spent the whole day being very lazy although we did manage to swim around in one of the swimming pools located away from the beach. The pool is very large and there is no-one else around. It is like having your own swimming pool!!!

Jo's mum and sister called in the evening and Jo had a good old chat.

Drank some wine, had dinner and then tried to play table tennis in the dark.

Collapsed into bed after such an exhausting day.

Day 27 (Thu, 3 Aug) - Mombasa Old Town

After breakfast we got a cab to the famous elephant tusks on Moi Avenue.

We walked up to Fort Jesus hassled by a gaggle of hawkers. At Fort Jesus we got a guide to take us round the fort.

A very interesting fort, steeped in history. Sarb was particularly taken with it on account of the book he had just read.

Our guide then took us on a walk through the Old Town. The Old Town is a patchwork of small alleys connecting ramshackle buildings, all with a distinctly Arabian flavour.

Very, very hot by lunchtime so we settled into a local eatery and had a tasty chicken curry. After lunch our guide took us back to Fort Jesus, where we sat on a wall overlooking the harbour entrance.

Found an internet cafe where we caught up on our mail.

Headed back towards the elephant tusks where we stopped off at a bar and had a few too many Redds! We also managed to find a wine shop so bought a 2 litre box of red!!
Despite all that we had heard Mombasa seemed quite a lively, safe place to walk around in. However we must admit we did not venture too far off the tourist path!!

Got a cab and headed off through the busy roads towards Nyali. As we approached the hotel we all heard a clunk from the car. The driver stopped, got out and went round to the back of the car. We got out to see what was happening to find that the exhaust had fallen off. The driver decided the best thing to do was to sling the exhaust in the trunk and worry about it later. We just paid the guy and walked the remaining distance to the hotel.

Got back to our room where we got stuck into the vino.

Had dinner and afterwards were entertained by possibly the best act yet. It consisted of a guy dressed like a scarecrow whose sole act was miming to some music. He even had a bit of rolled up newspaper to help him with the brass bits. It was so bad he left the audience stunned!

Had a few drinks in the beach front bar and turned in.

Day 26 (Wed. 2 Aug) - Mombasa

Got up nice and early and had a huge breakfast.

After breakfast went on the internet to find out what was going on in the world.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach - fabulous white sands and clear blue sea. The beach is virtually empty and we weren't even hassled by hawkers.

Jo decided to let the sun see her body - which was a bit of a mistake because even though she tried to smother herself with factor 40 suncream, by the evening she looked liked a patchy lobster!

Had a delicios buffet dinner and turned in early.

Sarb decided that he was the master of the mozzie net as the night before they had got badly bitten, dispite Jo carefully drawing the mozzie net - we'll see if he is any better!

Day 25 (Tue, 1 Aug) - Tanzania and Mombasa

During our short stay in Mesarani a load of the overland trucks had turned up and their occupants had set up loads of small tents all around our tent.

As we had breakfast this fine morning we realised that we must look like right posh tourists. Whilst everyone else was scrambling round a huge fire, Jo and I sat at a table complete with cutlery, crockery and a fine tablecloth tucking into a fine breakfast!!

We left Roger to pack the camp whilst we headed off to the Tanzanian border crossing town of Taveta.

It took about 1.5 hours to Taveta on fast roads. We stopped off for some piccies of Mount Kilimanjaro as it was the first time we saw it whilst in Tanzania.

At Taveta we sailed through the immigration checks and waited for Joshua. Whilst we waited we saw men pushing bicycles laden with salt through the border crossing. Looked like hot and very hard work.

Joshua turned up and we loaded up our bags and said our fond farewells to Rueben. We quickly realised we were in Kenya as the first pothole jolted us both in our seats.

We stopped off at Voi for a break at 1pm. Joshua looked really flaked out as he had left Nairobi that morning at 4.30am to pick us up.

Continued to Mombasa through light rains and possibly the worse road we've been on. To be fair they were in the middle of rebuilding it. Sarb was getting really annoyed about the state of the roads; he just could not understand how they were left to get into the state they were in.

Jo was dreading getting to the hotel as she had visions of the hotel in Nanyuki.

However when we finally got to the hotel (Reef Hotel) we were pleasantly surprised. It has 3 swimming pools, is located on Nyali beach, has all manner of bars and restaurants and half its inhabitants are friendly cats.

Jo and I checked in to our room, had dinner and a very good sleep.